1983-Facts and Fiction

Backstage-The unknown City: Part 2

"Whatever I am today, it is just because of Bishan Singh Bedi."

~Madan Lal

***

Madan Lal took a disliking towards Mohinder Amarnath the moment the latter stepped into the field, a step behind his older brother for the first practice session of the Delhi Ranji Trophy team for the 1974-75 season.

The reasons were numerous but centered around just one fact, really: Bishan paaji loved him.

******

Three months back...

Bishan had first mentioned him to Madan in conversation like, "I've got two great players for our team this season."

"Really? Two kids?"

"No, no, not kids—they're 26 and 24, Surinder and Mohinder Amarnath—we've played against them for the past few seasons—"

"Lala Amarnath's boys. Don't they play for Punjab?" asked Madan.

"Did," said Bedi, grinning. "Not anymore."

Maddi, all of 23, had loved to hear stories from his big brother for as long as he'd known him as much as his big brother loved relating them, so he settled down comfortably and waited expectantly.

"They're both great talents. Especially the younger one. No offence to the Punjab team, but their ability was getting wasted there. And as I told you last season, we need to concentrate the power we have in Delhi if we ever are to counter the Bombay lobby. You're too young to understand," Bedi said in a fatherly tone, "but their dad understands. I went and had a word with him, that's all."

"Wow, you managed to convince Lala Amarnath!" said Maddi, eyes shining with admiration.

Bishan did not even try to look modest as he related exactly how he had gone about convincing him.

"What are the two of them like?" prompted Maddi, not wanting the story to end.

"The older one takes after his father, rather," said Bedi. "He has captained Punjab for a few matches, too. Top order batsman."

Madan nodded.

"The younger one seems the complete opposite, the kind of guy you'd want in your team even if he didn't play so well. I've known them since they were kids, you know, and I like him," said Bedi decidedly.

Maddi didn't quite like that last bit.

"What's his role?"

"Medium pacer. Opens the bowling. Handy with the bat, too...the exact same role as yours," said his captain thoughtfully.

Maddi, who'd been about to say, 'he sounds weird,' subsided.

But he had already made up his mind he did not like the younger of the Amarnath brothers.

***********

Present time...

His general dislike intensified to severe dislike within two minutes as Bishan paaji left whatever he was doing (coaching a young spinner) to go and greet the Amarnath brothers and went as far as to hug Mohinder like he'd known him all his life (which, Madan remembered, he had, having always been close to Lala Amarnath).

Then Bedi summoned the rest of his team to introduce them to the newcomers. He called them 'Tommy' and 'Jimmy' instead of their full names (ridiculous names, Maddi thought)—"We're the voice of the north, so we're all in this together"—and added, slinging an arm around Jimmy's shoulders, "Tommy's going to be our number three or four, tentatively, and Jimmy will open the bowling with you, Maddi."

Jimmy smiled at Maddi.

Had Bishan paaji not been looking at him, Maddi would have refused to smile back. Instead, he smiled back so painfully he looked like a dying duck.

*************

Maddi had successfully avoided the famous Amarnath brothers with their famous dad, with regional captains vying to get their hands on them over the duration of the first practice session because they had been practising separately with the coaches.

The next morning, however, he found himself and Jimmy side by side at the breakfast buffet table.

"Good morning, Madan," said Jimmy in a friendly tone.

"There is nothing good about this morning," said Madan curtly, turning his back on him and rapidly shovelling cereal into his bowl.

"Why?" said Jimmy, shocked, glancing at the sky outside, which was a pleasant October-blue. The temperature was optimum, it was neither too cold, nor too hot, nor was it humid. The general chatter in the dining hall was peaceful.

Maddi followed his gaze and saw the sky too, and turned away again.

"Is something bothering you?" asked Jimmy with honest curiosity.

Jesus Christ.

They were speaking for the first time in their life and look at how enragingly snoopy this guy was. Why did he want to know what was bothering him anyway?

Rotten to the core, Madan could bet.

Unfazed by the lack of reply and the glower, Jimmy sat down from across him at the breakfast table and they both proceeded to eat in pin-drop silence.

For lack of better things to do, Maddi noticed that the two of them had the exactly same stuff on their plates—the Punjabi touch was apparent. There was also this saying, Madan remembered, 'Punjabi blood calling out to Punjabi blood', which his grandmother used to refer to all the time, that it was a calling no true Punjabi could ignore.

Madan mentally rolled his eyes at that voice in his head.

***************

Though Bishan paaji had mentioned once that Jimmy was a few months older than Madan, he was new to the team after all and Madan thought he ought to act like a junior should.

He did not, however, and even at the age of 24, spent a large part of his time at practice sessions guiding the juniors.

What a weird guy, Madan thought, throwing him a disgusted look one of those times.

Jimmy happened to look up that moment. Maddi wasn't sure if he read his expression correctly because he smiled in his characteristic nice-guy way anyway.

Must be touched in the head, decided Madan.

****************

The most infuriating thing about the famous Amarnath brothers was that Madan could see perfectly well why the entire team—especially their captain—liked them so much.

In spite of having been mistreated by the national selectors several times between them, there was no malice in either of them, and in the grassroot level of Indian cricket, with everyone vying with each other for a spot in the national team, there was, in general, plenty of malice going all around. They never spoke an arrogant word in spite of being prodigiously talented, they were always ready to help—Surinder, maybe with a hint of impatience, Jimmy always with his mild, undemonstrative smile. They were good for a laugh and were both great singers, hence immensely popular in parties, and they were both batshit scared of their dad, making Lala ji's visits the most entertaining bit of every other practice session.

As the month progressed and their first match drew near, the two newcomers had fitted into the team so well it was like they'd always been part of the Delhi team.

Jimmy Amarnath, indeed, was the apple of Bishan paaji's eyes, whose sarcastic comments and rebukes were somehow never targeted at Jimmy.

Which meant Bishan Singh Bedi was faced with a problem—his old new-ball bowler could not exchange a civil word with his new new-ball bowler.  

A/N: Bedi was fond of Maddi too, obviously:

https://www.mid-day.com/sports/cricket/article/Bishan-Singh-Bedi-offers-unstinted-support-to-Madan-Lal-for-DDCA-elections-19531199?button=next